Kevin Clash
Kevin Clash (b. September 17, 1960) is an accomplished puppeteer whose characters include Elmo, Clifford and Hoots the Owl. He currently serves as Sesame Street Muppet Captain and co-executive producer. Early years Clash was born and raised in Turner's Station, a predominantly black suburb of Baltimore, Maryland.While locals referred to it as Turner's Station, it officially is Turner Station. Clash grew up with parents George and Gladys, older siblings George Jr. ("Georgie") and Anita ("NeNe"), and little sister Pam. His father works as a flash welder operator at Raymond Metals and a neighborhood handyman, and his mother ran a daycare.My Life as a Furry Red Monster: What Being Elmo Has Taught Me About Life, Love, and Laughing Out Loud Clash began building puppets at the age of ten. Clash's parents were supportive of his interest in puppetry, driving him to puppet shows, allowing for his love of television and craft, and not urging him to college, when he announced he was pursuing puppetry professionally. Among his television viewing was Shari Lewis and Lamb Chop, Kukla, Fran, and Ollie, and H.R. Pufnstuf. Clash has admitted he watched television inches away from the screen, with no permanent eye damage.My Life as a Furry Red Monster: What Being Elmo Has Taught Me About Life, Love, and Laughing Out Loud His parents were supposedly more amused than angered when he cut apart his father's good overcoat to create a bear puppet with the fuzzy black lining.My Life as a Furry Red Monster: What Being Elmo Has Taught Me About Life, Love, and Laughing Out Loud As a tribute, Elmo's parents were named George and Gladys in an Elmo's World segment; their names have since changed. He performed on Baltimore's Harbor Front as a teenager. In high school, he was voted "Most Likely to be a Millionaire". Television appearances His first television work was for a CBS affiliate in Baltimore. He also performed a pelican character for Zep, a local Washington, DC show airing on WTOP. In the early 80s, he performed regularly, with Jim Martin, on Bob Keeshan's Wake Up with the Captain series, as well as building puppets and occasionally appearing on-camera. From 1981 to 1986, he appeared in The Great Space Coaster, as Goriddle Gorilla, Rory and Huggle Scuffy. On that show, he attracted the attention of Muppet designer Kermit Love, who invited him to work on various Henson projects. Coming to the Muppets Clash's film credits include Jim Henson's 1986 fantasy film Labyrinth, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze, Muppet Treasure Island, Muppets from Space, and The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland. His television work includes The Jim Henson Hour , Dog City (as Eliot Shag), Dinosaurs (as Baby Sinclair, Howard Handupme, and various prey creatures), and Muppets Tonight. Kevin Clash's only lasting Muppet character, outside of Sesame Street, is Clifford, a hip humanoid Muppet, who first appeared on The Jim Henson Hour. Clifford's most prominent role to date was his job as host of Muppets Tonight. Clash was co-executive producer for Elmopalooza, co-producer for The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland, and co-executive producer for CinderElmo and "Elmo's World". He has also served as either puppet coordinator, assistant puppet coordinator, or puppet captain on many productions, including Labyrinth, Muppet Treasure Island, and Dog City. As a husband and father right|250px|thumb|The Clash family. His daughter Shannon was born in 1993.Elisa Chia, "Meet the grown-up behind Elmo", 31 July 2006. In the fall of 2006, Kevin Clash released an autobiography titled My Life as a Furry Red Monster. Puppeteer Credits * Muppet Characters: Black Dog, Carter, Clifford, Leon, Mulch, Polly Lobster, Real Old Tom, Spa'am, Sam the Eagle (in It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie) * Sesame Characters: Elmo, Baby Tooth, Benny Rabbit, Hoots the Owl, Kingston Livingston III, Mel, Natasha, Wolfgang the Seal, Ferlinghetti Donizetti, The Big Bad Wolf (a few 80s News Flash skits), The Duck *''Sesame Beginnings: Baby Elmo * 'Dinosaurs:' Baby Sinclair, Howlin' Jay, Dinosaur Chief (face), Ethyl (sometimes, puppetry only), Howard Handupme, Monster (face), Mr. Ashland (face), Pterodactyl (puppetry only) *'Dog City (special):' Ace Yu * 'Dog City (series):' Eliot Shag * 'Labyrinth:' Fiery 1, Ambrosius (puppetry only), One of The Four Guards (puppetry only) * 'Muppet Sing-A-Long: Billy Bunny's Animal Songs:' Billy Bunny * 'The Tale of the Bunny Picnic:' Be-Bop, Father * 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles:' Splinter Trivia * Although Richard Hunt and Brian Muehl both performed Elmo in his earliest appearances on ''Sesame Street, the character did not take off until Clash started performing him in 1985. * Kevin Clash performed Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear and Sam the Eagle on the set for most scenes of Muppet Treasure Island, basing his delivery on a tape recording of Frank Oz at a table reading. Oz later dubbed each character's part. * Kevin's vocal coach has warned him that continuing to perform the character could cause permanent damage to his vocal health.Michael Dwyer, "A ticklish encounter". The Age, July 20, 2006. * According to The Age, Clash "has a spot of tendonitis in his puppet shoulder, but he's not complaining." Michael Dwyer, "A ticklish encounter". The Age, July 20, 2006. Awards & Honors * Kevin won Daytime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Performer in a Children's Series for his work as Elmo and Hoots the Owl on Sesame Street in 1990, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, and 2005. References and footnotes External Links * IMDb Clash, Kevin Clash, Kevin